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Capitalism in space: SpaceX will have a webcast today at 6 pm (Pacific) to announce the name of the first passenger to fly on a lunar mission using their Big Falcon Rocket (BFR).

The embed of that webcast is below, so if you wish you can watch right here.

Note that my initial post mistaken said this was happening at 6 pm Eastern time. That was an error.

Here are the three renderings released so far, all believed to be part of an animation which will be played during tonight’s announcement. As always, they likely represent the general features of the current design, but probably have a fair number of accidental omissions or instances of artistic license. When asked, Musk tweeted that the BFR booster (the BRB?) will still have grid fins, but they were accidentally left off in the images. Also, the BRB exhaust looks more like what I’d expect from RP-1/LOX than CH4/LOX. (The name might not stick, but following the FH launch, Musk said the he liked to call the booster BRB (presumably for Big Rocket Booster) since that it what it would say to its launch pad, “Be Right Back!”)

My prediction, based on their decision to announce the lunar flight so early (what, four to five years in advance), is that the buyer is paying a very large sum up front (perhaps approaching $1B, but either refundable or exchangeable for SpaceX stock if the flight doesn’t happen by a given date) which will help fund BFR development in exchange for exclusive rights to the first crewed lunar flight. He will then go on to sell additional seats on the flight as well as create some television shows about training and preparation, and if legalities can be worked out, even have a contest or lottery to fill some seats.

Half of me thinks, “Hey, what ever it takes to fund development of this thing.”, while the other half worries about it being turned into a circus.

The space community has been looking for a Kennedy moment for space travel for a long time, but rather than it coming from the U.S. government, it comes from a private citizen. This is the epitome of the idea of capitalism in space, serving We the People of the world.

Whatever Maezawa has paid, it’s enough that it will “materially contribute” to the development of BFR. Has to be nine figures easy, probably closer to 10. Which, being a billionaire, he can certainly afford.

And it does seem as if it’s as much Maezawa wanting to help fund the BFR as much as him wanting to fly on it.

And even if Maezawa is not selling these extra seats, it certainly sounds like he will be taking the opportunity to market the heck out of the trip.

“Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America’s quest for the moon… Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America’s greatest human triumphs.”
–San Antonio Express-News

Lecture: September 25, 2019, noon (Eastern), for the AIAA Northwest Florida Section at Elgin Air Force Base, Florida. Subject: How Apollo 8 won the 1960s space race and changed the world.

Lecture: September 25, 2019, late afternoon (Eastern). for local middle school children for the AIAA Northwest Florida Section at Elgin Air Force Base, Florida. Subject: Unknown Stories from Space: Astronaut adventures that did not reach the press.

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